A WORD FOR TODAY, April 24, 2023
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, April 24, 2023
“I waited patiently for Yahweh. He turned to me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand. He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in Yahweh. Blessed is the man who makes Yahweh his trust, and doesn’t respect the proud, nor such as turn away to lies. Many, Yahweh, my God, are the wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are toward us. They can’t be declared back to you. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be counted.” Psalm 40:1-5, WEB
I recently watched a video from Pastor Louie Giglio. He is described as the pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta and the founder of the Passion Movement. His focus is on encouraging young adults in their lives of active faith in the world, glorifying God in all they do. He has written several books, and often puts faith and science together to show how God is glorified in the natural world.
The video I watched included the audio of several different types of celestial bodies mashed together with the song of the whales, showing that the entire universe sings the praises of God. He then added a human voice singing a familiar song with words of praise, creating a beautiful composition. He used this as a demonstration of Psalm 148, which talks about how all of creation sings praise to God. Pastor Giglio is not without controversy, but this video certainly makes a powerful point. I sat in wonder as I listened to the song, in awe that God created a world that praises Him all the time.
When was the last time you truly experienced the sense of wonder at something? The word “wonder” is defined as “the feeling excited by something strange; a mixture of surprise, curiosity, and sometimes awe.” Children experience this all the time. I remember spending summers chasing after wonders. We stayed outside past dark to catch lightning bugs and play flashlight tag. We swam in the pool from sun up to sun down and sometimes even later. We played in the woods behind our house searching for anything that might pique our imaginations. We skated on the frozen puddles in the field and stretched out on the grass to watch the clouds go by. We hid under the umbrella tree with our favorite books. We were fascinated by lady bugs, picked “yard mums” (dandelions) for our mothers and ate peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.
Peanut butter sandwiches are wonderful. I don’t eat them often enough. They make me feel like a child again; they remind me that there is so much to be thankful for in this world. Silly, isn’t it? And yet, that child-like wonder is exactly how we should feel all the time.
Someone in Sunday school today reminded us how much easier it is for children to have faith. Perhaps they are more willing to see the wonder in the world and to believe in Jesus because they have not yet experienced the hardships of life. They don’t know what it is like to suffer the consequence of their wrongdoing. They don’t have responsibilities, so they can fritter away their lives under the rolling clouds and blue skies. They are also not cynical. They haven’t seen the worst of people, so they are willing to see the best. We didn’t hold grudges. We bickered but we forgave. We reconciled. We loved. And then we went back to wondering about the amazing things in the world.
The psalmist knew what it was like to be buried in the muck and mire of sinfulness but trusted in God’s forgiveness. Pastor Giglio is much older than his target audience now, but I think he understands that the young are more willing to see the wonder of faith and science working together to praise God. Yet, we should all be like children, hearing the praise song of creation glorifying God the Creator.
Children trust. It comes with the innocence of childhood. Perhaps we should be more like we were when we were children. Perhaps we should take more time to be in awe of the sunset or the rainbow. Perhaps we should watch the clouds roll by. Most of all, we should take time to be in awe of God’s wonderful works. He created the world and everything in it. He sent Jesus His Son to pull us out of the muck and mire, wash us, and cloth us with His righteousness. He has made us new so that we can see His creation with new eyes. We should be singing with the stars and whales so that everyone will hear that our God has planned wonderful things for His people; things that were, things that are, and things that will be!
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org
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